In a sweeping and controversial move, the Texas Tech University System has directed its five member institutions to restrict classroom instruction on transgender and nonbinary identities, citing alignment with state and federal directives. The decision has sparked alarm among LGBTQ+ advocates, faculty unions, and legal experts who warn it undermines both academic freedom and student inclusion.
Late Thursday, Chancellor Tedd Mitchell issued a memo to university presidents ordering that faculty “comply” with a constellation of new policies: a presidential executive order affirming only two sexes, gubernatorial guidance to reject “woke gender ideologies,” and House Bill 229, which legally defines sex in binary, biologically based terms. The universities affected include Texas Tech University, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, Angelo State, and Midwestern State. Together they serve more than 60,000 students.
Mitchell’s memo frames the directive as a legal compliance measure:
“While recognizing the First Amendment rights of employees in their personal capacity, faculty must comply with these laws in the instruction of students, within the course and scope of their employment.”
Yet critics quickly pushed back. Legal scholars and free speech organizations insist there is no law that explicitly bars teaching about gender identity at the university level. The ACLU of Texas labeled the directive “cruel, discriminatory,” and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression warned it constitutes “obvious censorship.”
On the ground, confusion and fear are spreading among faculty and students. Some professors say they have been told to scrub mentions of gender diversity from syllabi, avoid using pronouns, and remove LGBTQ+ symbols like pride flags. At Angelo State University, already part of the system, department chairs reportedly instructed faculty that “discussing transgender information is forbidden.” Faculty warn that noncompliance could lead to disciplinary action, including possible termination.
One graduate student at Texas Tech told reporters, “It’s like cruelty is the point … this policy undercuts us.” That fear is not unfounded. The system’s memo asked leadership to review curriculum and make “timely adjustments where needed.” Additionally, the memo describes the issue as a “developing area of law,” signaling its leaders may be hedging.
Supporters of the move argue that universities must comply with new state definitions and directives to avoid legal conflict. Opponents counter that such interpretation is a misreading, since HB 229 does not explicitly regulate academic discourse and the cited executive orders lack binding authority in a university setting.
At heart, this saga is about more than policy. It is about whether public institutions can be turned into avenues of political censorship. Trans and nonbinary students, already marginalized, may feel erased, silenced, or unsafe in academic spaces meant for inquiry. If universities can be forced to suppress identities, where does that leave teaching, research, and the very promise of higher education?
